Q. I could not fast during the last two years because I was pregnant first and then I was breast-feeding my child. On doctors’ advice, I felt that I should not fast. How should I compensate for non-fasting?
Ummu Salma
A. Women often find themselves in the situation where they are pregnant one year and breast-feeding the next year. If this carries on for a few years during the reproductive period in a woman’s life, it is likely she will not be able to fast for several years. If she is required to make up for all this in fasting, she will find herself with a very heavy load of compensation, that she may not be able to manage. Since Islam is both practical and easy to implement, God has allowed women in such a situation to resort to the other method of compensation, which is to feed a poor person two meals for each day of non-fasting.
This means that the lady reader should make this sort of compensation, feeding a poor person for sixty days, or sixty poor persons for one day, or any combination of the two, provided always that for each day, she gives one poor person two meals of the average type her family gets in normal time.
Two Ways to Complete the Fast
Q.1. Two people traveled from Saudi Arabia to India three days before the end of Ramadan. Because Ramadan started a day later in India, the difference caused a problem. The first did not fast on his day of travel, completed the fast with the people of India and finished 30 days. The other fasted on the day of travel, and after completing 30 days, he did not fast anymore. This meant that the people of India where he was present fasted and he did not. Please comment.
Q.2. A person adds to his savings every month. Please comment on how he should calculate his zakah.
I. Parvez
A.1. Both are correct. The one who fasted on his day of travel should not fast after completing 30 days because the Prophet (peace be upon him) indicated that a lunar month could not be more than 30 days. The other person was fasting with the people in the country where he was, and could not refrain from fasting that day because he had not completed the month. He does not need to fast in lieu of the day of his travel.
A.2. Everyone should have a zakah date, which is the date when he first owned an amount equivalent to the threshold of zakah, determined at 85 grams of gold. Every year, on that date, you calculate what you have. If it is over this threshold, you pay your zakah on the entire amount, even though some of the money might have been with you for only a few days. Suppose that last year you had a saving of 10,000 riyals, and you paid your zakah for this amount. During the year you added to your savings different amounts, ranging from 50 to 300 riyals every month, and on your zakah date this year you have 12,000 riyals, you pay your zakah on this amount, even though you added your last savings only one month ago. Do not forget that by making this addition, you are a little richer and you have paid all your living expenses. You are in a much better position than many people. To express your gratitude to God for giving you this much, you pay your zakah to help those who are less fortunate than you.
